


And the World Healed

by NeuroWriter14



Series: Chronicles From Hell [5]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Background/Origin Story, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, More Fluff, fluffy fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-24
Updated: 2015-02-24
Packaged: 2018-03-14 21:43:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3426608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeuroWriter14/pseuds/NeuroWriter14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The end...of this series. I hope you all enjoyed!</p></blockquote>





	And the World Healed

The family was on the move. That was what Rick had dubbed them. He had his husband, Daryl, strong and handsome with his crossbow. He had his children, Carl and Judith, who were beautiful and growing up well. There was the group mother, as Rick called her, Carol. There were the crazy brothers and sisters, Glenn and Maggie, Sasha, Tara, and all the rest. Rick's family. 

They walked forward, carefully on guard but Daryl gave Rick a smile. Rick couldn't help but grin back. 

The group had been walking for a day, trying to find a more permanent residence. They were sick of this hellish world. They just wanted to ride it out till all the walkers were dead. Maybe, just maybe, such a place really existed.

Rick was exhausted, though he'd never admit it to the group. The world seemed to be moving so quickly around them and Rick felt like he was standing in one place. They had decided to stop trying to reach Washington. Dead politicians were just as bad as live ones. So they decided to head west, places where they would be in the middle of nowhere and could see for miles and miles across a flat plain. Plus the land in the Midwest region was fertile, they could grow crops. 

\------

Daryl was twelve years old. His mother had just given birth to a baby girl. Merle scoffed at their younger sister, but Daryl...Daryl relished every moment with his little sister. He played with her, kept her entertained. At night when she cried, he took care of her instead of his mother. 

He was her protector, her best friend, and her brother. 

Then one day, he came home and she was gone. His little sister, Brandy, was gone. Got sick and died, his mother told him. 

Daryl was beside himself. Then his mother died. 

All he had left was his abusive father and absentee brother. 

Before she died, on one night that the little archer wasn't able to sleep, his mother came into his room and told him a story. With her she brought a delicate, white flower. She called it, a Cherokee rose. He fell asleep after the story in his mother's arms.

After she died, Daryl still remembered the story and tried to keep the flower for as long as he could. It had been tucked in his pocket when his mother had burnt the house down. 

The little redneck was devastated at losing his mother and his sister. He became a shut in more so after that. His temperament became hard and very rarely ever cracked for anyone.

Then 12 years later, something like a miracle happened. A girl showed up. She was Daryl's height with cerulean eyes and a thousand watt smile. Her hair was dirty blonde, pulled back in a haphazard pony tail. She had a muscular build, easily defined against her rather tan skin. She carried a backpack with her, slung over one shoulder. 

"Hi." She stuck out a hand with a wide grin. He looked at her hand as if it would bite him. She looked at him expectantly. "Come on. I don't bite." He took her hand. "You're Daryl, right? Daryl Dixon." Daryl froze. "Come on. Let's go somewhere where we can talk." 

She turned and started to walk into a restaurant. He followed, unsure why. She got a table for two. "Order whatever you want. I'm paying." Daryl's stomach rumbled. He hadn't had a full meal in a week. "Come on. No catch. You need to eat." Her vibrant eyes blazed into his and anyone could tell she was a ball of joy. 

They are in silence while she studied him. She even ordered dessert and gave him most of the dish. 

"So." He could tell her energy had dissipated and turned into nervousness. "It was July." That was how she started. "July when I last saw my two older brothers. I was four and my entire family had been ripped away from me." Daryl looked to her warily. "I remember one time before I was gone, my brother, the younger of my two older brothers, sat me down and said 'B, I'ma be a Olympic archer. I'ma get medals and I'ma see the world. And I'll have you with me. We'll see everything, Paris, Rome, everything. Everywhere you want to go. I'll take care of you B.' I never knew if he fulfilled his dream." The girl was silent.

"July sixth." Daryl said after a moment. "Sorry?" She looked confused. "July sixth. That was the day my little sister got sick and died in the hospital. Mom wouldn't even let me come to the funeral. Merle neither. Said we was too young." Daryl looked at her through his eyelashes. She was biting her lip then she opened her backpack and pulled out a note. 

"When I turned 16, my adopted parents gave this to me. It was from my birth mother. She left me on the doorsteps of an orphanage. I still remember on the way there she said I was sick and that she wouldn't ever see me again. She left this note on me with instructions to give it to me when I was old enough. My birthday was last month, September 21st, the fall equinox. I turned 16. And they gave me this."

She fingered the paper, looking like she read it a thousand times but every time she was still shocked by the information inside. "My name is Brandy Daniel Sanchez. But I was born Brandy Daniel Dixon."

Her vivid eyes dropped to the table. Of course everything she said lined up with what Daryl remembered. Every last word. He even celebrated his sister's birthday the previous month, with a bottle of whiskey. She slowly passed the paper to him. 

It was his mother's handwriting for sure, and it detailed everything about how she faked her daughter's death because her husband had begun to look at her in a way their mother didn't like. She talked of how Daryl was abused and how she wanted to protect her daughter, liked she'd failed to do her son. 

Daryl folded up the paper carefully and slid it back over to the girl. "If you really are my sister," He began, choosing his word's carefully, "What was the one thing I told you I wanted. Never told anyone else." Her eyes lit up as she pulled on her backpack again, setting it on the table and standing up to dig inside. What could she be pulling out of that magic bag now, Daryl wondered.

Suddenly, it appeared. A navy blue vest with frayed edges and two bottons on the front and a pocket on each side. "This isn't it, obviously, but what's on the back is." She flipped it around to show off a pair of silver angel wings. "Wings. You told me you wanted wings so you could fly away. And be free." She set the vest on the table and moved the backpack off. 

Brandy looked at Daryl expectantly, with eager bright eyes. Daryl picked up the vest lightly and fingered the material, turning it over and running his fingers over the material of the wings. "Do you like it?" She asked, quietly, after a moment. He looked at her, really looked at her. "B?" He asked carefully. She nodded. 

Daryl launched himself out of the chair and pulled his little sister into a bone crushing hug. "I thought you were dead." He whispered into her hair. She came up perfectly under his chin, perfect for him to be the protective big brother. 

They talked all day that day. He showed her around the little town they were in at the time, got some real barbecue, explored all the sights. He told her of how he didn't become and Olympic athlete, of how Merle ended up in jail, of how their mother and father died, of how he raised himself for a while but had learned how to take care of himself. She told him of how she had been at the top of her class in school, the best in her class in sports, specifically archery; and of how she had spent the last month looking for him. 

The redneck was overly proud of his little sister. He never thought the bright eyed little girl he cared for would be the brilliant young lady he was talking to. And yet, B hadn't changed. She still enjoyed his company, and seemed to take shelter in his strength. Things seemed to be going back to they way they were 12 years prior. 

Then she had to go.

He saw her off at the airport, waved to her on the plane she was on and hoped she waved back. He purposefully bought a cell phone and plugged in the number Brandy had given him, giving her specific instructions to text or call him when she arrived home. She did more than that.

He would get pictures of her and her friends, of her shooting, of her 100% tests and straight A report cards. She talked to him constantly and on her 17th birthday, she had him flown out to be there. It was only the fifth birthday he had ever celebrated with her, and he cherished every moment of it.

The hard redneck softened with his sister, who was as equally protective over him as he was over her. At her party, a few of her friends had started making fun of Daryl, commenting on his clothes and look. They were boys, and Daryl really didn't care what little boys thought. But Brandy was upset. She kicked them out after giving one of them a black eye that would carry to his kids. 

Before he left, she gave him a gift. "For all the birthdays of yours I missed." And this time, she bear hugged him. 

He opened it on the plane. It was a poncho. Daryl would wear it often, along with his vest.

The last time he talked to Brandy was a month before the apocalypse really hit. 

That was two years ago.

Now the archer sat next to his husband at the camp fire their group had made. They wouldn't all be able to sleep tonight. So Daryl pulled Rick into his arms, trapped him with his legs, and held the former deputy tightly against him. Rick fell asleep in his arms, with Judith resting against his chest.

Daryl assumed it was because Judith reminded him of Brandy that they got along so well. Or maybe because Little Ass Kicker reminded him so much of the man in his arms. Whatever the case, Daryl had taken to little Judith well. And the motherless child was now growing up in a world with two fathers. Not the worst trade off.

\-------

Rick woke up Daryl by kissing him lightly, "Wake up Mr. Dixon." Daryl moaned, "In the name of all things good let me sleep Mr. Dixon." But he grinned. Rick knew Daryl would never miss the chance to call him his last name. 

Carl mumbled something about being hungry, hell they all were, but Rick could only look sympathetically at his oldest child. But Carl wasn't really a child anymore. He was a teenager. 

Rick handed Judith to him and Carl's demeanor immediately changed. He was a great big brother. Rick stood and pulled his reluctant archer with him. Daryl wrapped his arms around his officer and rested his head on his shoulder. "Where to now Chief?" 

They had been walking half the day when things really got interesting. An arrow flew directly next to Daryl's head and Rick immediately drew his gun and stepped in front of his husband, who had his crossbow ready. No walker fired a weapon, so it was a human. 

"Go no further or next time I won't miss." The voice said. It was distinctly female. "Come out from behind there." Rick said pointing at the bush. The girl moved slowly. "Lower your weapons and I'll lower mine." She muttered. "No way." Rick answered. "Very well."

She came out from behind the bush, with a straight bow in her hand. She was armed to the teeth with guns and knives of every kind and arrows enough to keep Daryl with enough ammo for a month. Her eyes were a vibrant blue which reminded Rick of the sky. She was well muscled and tan with long, dirty blonde hair pulled back into a braid.

Suddenly her bow lowered. "Daryl?" She moved to see behind Rick better. "Daryl is that you?" Rick heard the sound of a crossbow hitting the ground and his archer flew out from behind him. The girl's now dropped too and she met him half way, hugging him tightly, squeezing her eyes shut. Rick's mouth dropped open. 

Daryl didn't let the girl go for another minute before stepping back and putting his hands on her face. She held his wrists and grinned at him, a smile enough to blind the sun. "You're alive?" He whispered. "Oh come on Daryl." She rolled her eyes. "It's hard to kill a Dixon." Daryl actually laughed. 

"Come on." She pulled Daryl after her but he stopped. "Wait." He held a hand up to stay her and she stopped and waited patiently. He picked up his crossbow, his beautiful eyes shining as he looked at Rick. He was so happy, he couldn't speak, Rick thought. "She's my sister." He whispered after a moment. 

The officer looked back and forth wary at first but then he saw it, not just the external parallels, but that internal fire he loved about his redneck. He nodded, unable to speak. "Come on, please. All of you." She waved them after her and she took off in a run.

She led them right to a dead deer, with no bites on it. "I can't eat all this alone." She said with a grin.

That night they ate the deer under the stars by a dull fire. 

"Tell me what's happened the last three years." Daryl asked her. "Well," Brandy began, "I was accepted into Oxford on a full scholarship with a guarantee into getting into medical school and then the world ended and I've been heading across the country, trying to find a place to wait it out." Daryl raised an eyebrow, "Alone?" Brandy shrugged, "I can take care of myself big brother." She grinned at him. 

"And you?" The little archer asked as she opened a bottle of water. Earlier she had handed them all water and they all were thankful. She even had baby food, saying it was enough to keep her going until she found really food. Judith thanked her by passing out in Daryl's arms. Daryl held his daughter in his arms, kissing her forehead when he took breaths. "Well. The world went to hell, fought crazy governors, tons of walkers, lost and gained friends, took down a bunch of cannibals, and found a family." He paused, "Oh, and I got married." The redneck bumped Rick, "To the love of my life." 

Rick felt his entire face blush and Brandy grinned. "Guess that makes me your little sister too." The officer nodded. "Who's..." But Daryl cut her off, "He's a Dixon. And over there," Daryl pointed to Carl, "That's my son, Carl." Carl flushed then beamed at Daryl and Daryl grinned back before shifting the baby in his arms. "And this is my daughter, Judith Dixon." Brandy grinned. "She's beautiful. May I?" Daryl set the littlest Dixon into Brandy's arms. She cooed softly and rocked the little girl. Daryl leaned back into Rick. "We're gonna be happy." Rick nodded and kissed Daryl's forehead. "Yes, we are."

It was another week before they found a farm in the Midwest with the perfect soil to grow things in. They built and fortified a wall around the farm and planted the seeds they and Brandy had. 

Brandy turned out to be the most sentimental of all the group. She fashioned them a mail box and painted it, writing the word's "The Apocalypse Family." She found an old camera and took all their pictures, and made frames for them all. 

When Brandy took a picture of Rick, Daryl, Judith, and Carl, she had a mischievous grin on her face. A week later, for Rick's birthday, she gave him a gift with a custom frame she hand made with The Dixons carved into it. Rick had never been happier to see anything.

\------

In her room, Brandy hung pictures of herself with each of her family member, the ones with her and Daryl and then her and the rest of the Dixons were right above her bed. A knock came from her door. It was Rick.

"I know, I haven't been very welcoming." He said. She shrugged, "I'd be wary too after everything you've all been through." She rested a hand on his shoulder, "Thank you for taking care of my brother. I'm really glad he found you." Rick grinned at her. Then, he did something Brandy never expected, the former deputy pulled the youngest Dixon sibling into a hug. "Thank you, sister."

Brandy grinned into his shoulder. 

\-------

They rode out the entirety of the hell world there. When the power suddenly came on, they all knew it was over. The first thing most of them did was showered. When the other's left the house, Daryl took advantage of the limited water and pulled Rick in with him, saying it would save them water. 

Daryl had never been happier. 

In two days they took down their fence. The hell they lived in was gone. Brandy was sitting on the porch, watching the sunset when Daryl joined her. "What now?" She asked. Rick came to sit on Daryl's other side. "I don't know." Daryl answered. Carl sat with his legs dangling over the railing, little Judith on his lap. Glenn and Maggie were sharing a rocking chair. Michonne was stretching out on a wicker couch. Carol was sitting on the porch swing. Abraham, Eugene, Sasha, and Tara were all leaning over the railing. 

Daryl looked back at the sunset. "But as long as I have my family, I know it'll work out fine." 

Rick threaded his fingers through Daryl's. "I love you Mr. Dixon." The officer whispered in his ear. "I love you too, Mr. Dixon."

And they kissed.

**Author's Note:**

> The end...of this series. I hope you all enjoyed!


End file.
